Emerson DeltaV Smart Switch Command Center application, available in versions 11.3.x and 12.3.1, was unable to change the DeltaV Smart Switches’ management password upon commissioning. Emerson released patches for DeltaV workstations to address this issue, and the patches can be downloaded from Emerson’s Guardian Support Portal. Please refer to the DeltaV Security Notification DSN19003 (KBA NK-1900-0808) for more information about this issue. DeltaV versions 13.3 and higher use the Network Device Command Center application to manage DeltaV Smart Switches, and this newer application is not impacted by this issue. After patching the Smart Switch Command Center, users are required to either commission the DeltaV Smart Switches or change password using the tool.
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ve6046_firmware | Emerson | 09.0.12 (including) | 09.0.12 (including) |
Hard-coded credentials typically create a significant hole that allows an attacker to bypass the authentication that has been configured by the product administrator. This hole might be difficult for the system administrator to detect. Even if detected, it can be difficult to fix, so the administrator may be forced into disabling the product entirely. There are two main variations:
In the Inbound variant, a default administration account is created, and a simple password is hard-coded into the product and associated with that account. This hard-coded password is the same for each installation of the product, and it usually cannot be changed or disabled by system administrators without manually modifying the program, or otherwise patching the product. If the password is ever discovered or published (a common occurrence on the Internet), then anybody with knowledge of this password can access the product. Finally, since all installations of the product will have the same password, even across different organizations, this enables massive attacks such as worms to take place. The Outbound variant applies to front-end systems that authenticate with a back-end service. The back-end service may require a fixed password which can be easily discovered. The programmer may simply hard-code those back-end credentials into the front-end product. Any user of that program may be able to extract the password. Client-side systems with hard-coded passwords pose even more of a threat, since the extraction of a password from a binary is usually very simple.